


Turn Around and Come Down Slowly

by ObliqueOptimism



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: ASL, Deaf Character, Gen, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, Not Beta Read
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-14
Updated: 2019-05-14
Packaged: 2020-03-05 14:11:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18830284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObliqueOptimism/pseuds/ObliqueOptimism
Summary: When Klaus is sober he's legally deaf, but when he's high he can hear.





	Turn Around and Come Down Slowly

**Author's Note:**

> listen, i don't know if i like how this turned out and i wrote it all in one afternoon while trying to help my mom scan pictures to her laptop. sure i could like rewrite or work on it but like the passed week has been rough for me so this'll have to do. any mistakes are mine as i didn't bother my friend to give it a quick beta. also lets pretend that years of having injured eardrums that they'll heal without much issue from that. (a fun fact that doesn't play any part of this fic: i was legally deaf til i was four)

Klaus spent more time not being able to hear than hearing. 

At least while he was sober.

While he was high out of his mind for months on end, never letting himself become truly sober, his ears had time to heal and he could hear. 

It was glorious.

But they were _so loud_.

And within a few hours of being sober his eardrum would burst and blood would ooze down his face and the world would be silent. If not silent, then very muffled. As if he was hearing things from underwater. 

Made it easier to sleep at night when he couldn’t hear. Sure he still had nightmares that kept him up, but at least with the _silence_ he couldn’t be kept up from their noise.

Sir Father Asshole thought he was deaf. Ol’ Reggie didn’t like that it took years before the realize he couldn't really hear and he didn’t really like that they’d have to learn ASL. Not to mention the chronic ear infections that came with injured eardrums. 

Klaus was honestly amazed that his eardrum ever healed from all the abuse the dead put it through.

But mom made sure they all knew ASL. And Klaus was able to learn how to talk, though he knew he didn’t always pronounce words like he should, it was hard to learn and know when you spent most of your time being legally deaf. Then he got addicted to drugs and he could hear and he learned how to speak better, he was able to hear his family’s voices, to learn inflections and sarcasm and the way Ben’s voice wavered when he was worried about Klaus.

He didn’t really like being able to hear the worry or panic in Ben’s voice.

So Klaus took to the streets and the addict’s life. He could hear the yelling, the sirens, the music of the raves. The music never got as loud as the ghosts, but he could feel the bass in his spine and it was glorious to hear and feel the music all at once. 

_He could hear_.

None of his siblings seemed to realize how much of a miracle it seemed to be. At first they’d gotten used to him being deaf, then he started the drugs and much to everyone’s surprise his ears healed without the constant abuse. He heard his dad’s dead tone that matched his dead eyes as he told him how much of a disappointment he was for trying to block his powers. Didn’t he realize the only reason why he heard him spout about how much of a failure he was was because of the drugs? 

Dear papa never used ASL.

But then he was high more often than not and finally lived with sound and his siblings _forgot_ that he once couldn't hear. They slowly stopped using ASL and just started yelling to him about his drug use.

He was used to yelling.

A few times over the years Diego helped Klaus get out of an arrest (usually about drugs) but there was a memorable time when Klaus had been sober for a day, he had tried to steal something to sell and get money for drugs and got caught. But this time he was already sober and he was already deaf.

Klaus knew the cops at that precinct pretty well and none of them seemed to know ASL and none could wrap their head around the fact that he wasn’t so high that he wasn’t connecting sounds to his brain and it was that he honestly couldn’t hear what they were saying. 

Then Diego showed up and started saying _something _, probably having been told that Klaus was too high to understand words (even though he’d been _telling_ the cops that he couldn’t hear them, he wasn’t high). So when Diego appeared Klaus held up his hands and signed along with what he was saying, hoping he wasn’t talking too loud or quiet. It was hard to manage your volume when you couldn't hear it. __

__“Di, I’m sober right now. Drums burst again,” he gestured to his ears._ _

__Diego had paled. It seemed as if he’d forgotten the first years of their lives together._ _

__It was awkward to have the police believe Diego about him not being able to hear even though that was what he’d been telling them for hours. (“He can’t hear when he’s sober.”)_ _

__And rehab was awful._ _

__Forced withdrawal followed by ruptured eardrums?_ _

__Yeah, no thanks._ _

__A surprising amount of drug dealers knew ASL. Or enough to get by with selling drugs to the deaf. Which shouldn’t surprise Klaus as much as it did because there were a lot of homeless who had disabilities. Not that everyone who shared the same address as him were addicts, but they often overlapped. None of his dealers thought it was weird that after a jaunt in rehab he’d use ASL for a few weeks to months before talking again. What they thought of it, Klaus didn’t know but they never acted like it was strange. Hell, if they noticed his bracelet from rehab before he started using ASL they would greet him with it._ _

__It was rather thoughtful, Klaus thought._ _

__Klaus _loved_ music. He loved every kind he’d heard. He loved turning it up to where he could feel the music as well as hear it. It was as if he’d been starved of the melodies for half of his life and he had to make up for lost time. _ _

__And then his dad died._ _

__Thank god._ _

__He arrived home and no one greeted him with ASL along with spoken word. They just talked at him. Either they figured he’d be high and his ears would be healed or they forgot. Too bad he’d just did a stint in rehab and his ears weren’t up to par yet. But he wasn’t going to ask them to use ASL. To have them doubt that he couldn’t hear them? He was high after all, of course he could hear them, right? It’s not like it would take weeks for his ears to heal._ _

__Thankfully Ben was more than kind enough to translate behind their backs._ _

__Ben was also the one to let him know that something weird was happening in the backyard._ _

__And then little Number Five appeared._ _

__“Nice skirt,” Five said and signed at the same time._ _

__“ _Danke_ ,” Klaus replied in kind._ _

__“He can hear you, you know,” Allison rolled her eyes. “No more pretending to be deaf for the attention.”_ _

__“Actually I can’t,” Klaus said after Ben translated. “My ears still haven’t healed since I was last in rehab.”_ _

__Luther glared at him, “Then how do you know what I’m saying? Just stop lying, Klaus.”_ _

__“Ben’s been translating,” Klaus replied._ _

__“I told you to stop lying,” He wasn’t very amused._ _

__“I don’t think he’s lying,” Five said, hands flying in ASL as he spoke. “He’s never been able to hear right, why are you questioning this?”_ _

__“Five, bud,” Klaus said, “when I’m high my ears can heal because ghosts aren’t _constantly screaming_ at me. Turns out that’s what's wrong with my hearing. It’s my powers, funny right? But drugs make the ghosties go away and my body can heal and no longer deaf! Yay!”_ _

__“And you’re high right now,” Allison pointed out._ _

__Klaus rolled his eyes and held up his wrist, showing how he was recently in rehab. He tended to wear it until his hearing came back, a signal to his dealers that he couldn’t hear. “And it takes months to heal from a ruptured eardrum, Allison. Believe me or not, I don’t care. If you care enough we can have mom double check the actual and physical damage but I’d like to believe you’d trust me when I say _I can’t hear you._ ”_ _

__Diego looked pale again._ _

__Klaus snickered and pointed at him, “Forgot again did you? How did it go over when you told the cops that when I’m sober I can’t hear. I bet that was fun to explain.”_ _

__So later when gunshots went off, Klaus didn’t hear them. Obviously he didn’t hear them._ _

__And then even later, in the past, more gunshots went off and bombs and explosions and any chance his ears had to heal (the government pumped those boys in war full of the good stuff) was sometimes waylaid from all the gunshots and bombs and explosions. And ghosts that came through the drug haze and yelled and yelled and _yelled_._ _

__Klaus taught ASL to Dave._ _

__He missed having Ben around to translate._ _

__He’d gotten some of his hearing back during the war, but it didn’t heal completely. The 173rd rallied around him and helped him know what to do when the higher ups were around and they were all willing to learn some ASL (not like Dave, Dave _really_ wanted to learn). Even though he couldn’t hear the music fully at the nightclubs he could feel it, it was loud enough to feel. _ _

__And at night when it was just the two of them, Klaus loved to feel Dave’s heart beat._ _

__He loved Dave’s heart beat._ _

__But then his heart beat was gone._ _

__And so Klaus left._ _

__So the end of the world was coming and Klaus’s had already ended._ _

__Then Klaus couldn’t hear, Allison couldn’t speak and Luther locked Vanya up in a soundproof room. No hearing or being heard for her._ _

__But the whole family knew ASL so while Luther tried to pull everyone away from the room everyone could sign to each other. Asking for forgiveness and giving forgiveness and saying they’d help her if only Luther would calm the fuck down please give them time to stop Luther, they would be coming. They wouldn’t leave her in there._ _

__Luther hadn’t seen the signing, trying to lead them away one by one, his back to them as they frantically signed. But they made it hard for him, like he was herding cats. As soon as he let go of someone they’d slip passed him and go back to Vanya._ _

__Luther never let anyone get near the door though._ _

__But Luther didn’t see Ben, and Klaus had been punched in the face earlier in the day by his brother so while they distracted Luther, Ben tired to get a grip on the door of the cell and get it open._ _

__The door must have needed oiled because as the handle started to turn slowly in Ben’s hands Luther’s gaze shot towards it._ _

__He said something but Klaus just cheered Ben on, not hearing what Luther had said._ _

__Luther was turning to everyone, talking some more. When he finally turned to Klaus he actually signed to him, asking if he was doing that and how._ _

__“Ben’s doing it, dickmunch,” Klaus stuck out his tongue._ _

__And then Vanya was free._ _

__“She’s dangerous!” Luther signed as he yelled._ _

__“So are you!” Klaus stood in front of Vanya. “This bruise on my neck is from you, not from kinky sex. You hurt me yesterday, remember, man? If we lock her up, we should lock you up too!”_ _

__Luther seemed taken aback, “I didn’t try to kill you.”_ _

__“She didn’t try to kill Allison!” Klaus defended. “She’s said as much already. She’s said she’s sorry and she didn’t mean to. You on the other hand haven’t. You had just stormed out after choking me and then throwing me on the floor. What do you have to say about that?”_ _

__Luther glared at him, “It’s not the same!”_ _

__“How the fuck not is it not the same?” Klaus narrowed his eyes, “Because you did it? Or because it was against me and not Allison?”_ _

__“That’s not fair,” Luther tried._ _

__“You can’t hold everyone up to a double standard, Luth,” Klaus said quietly. “You can’t excuse yourself but hold others accountable for _the same thing_. Vanya accidentally tried to kill Allison, you accidentally tried to kill me. Same thing.”_ _

__“No. She really almost died, Klaus. It was touch-and-go! _Not the same thing_ ,” Luther’s hands shook as he signed the last sentence._ _

__“Then how about when I died saving your ass?” Klaus burst out. He hadn’t meant to say that. He didn’t want everyone to know he’d died (he could hear when he died and his ears didn’t hurt and _he could hear_ ). _ _

__“What?” Luther hadn’t signed that but Klaus knew that was probably what he’d asked. He could almost feel the silence in the room._ _

__“So I didn’t conjure dad last night, I spoke to him when I died at the rave you went to,” Klaus hoped his voice wasn’t as hesitant as it felt._ _

__“I got you killed?” Luther asked._ _

__“Yeah,” Klaus scratched the back of his head where the knot still was._ _

__Luther fell down as if his legs gave out on him. He was mumbling something but Klaus didn’t know what he was saying._ _

__Turning around he saw everyone eyeing him. Shrugging, Klaus gestured to the elevator, “Should we go upstairs and wait for Five?”_ _

__Klaus helped Luther to his feet and led the group to one of the sitting rooms._ _

__So somehow they stopped the end of the world (Vanya killed the guy who started it, suck on that Luther) and Klaus was going to stay sober._ _

__He’d miss music and birds singing and his sibling’s voices but one day he’d see Dave again. He knew it. And Dave was more important than hearing. Dave was more important than the end of the world._ _


End file.
